Sloped roofs are visually appealing and help to reduce maintenance by shedding rain water, snow or other precipitation. It is important, however, that the precipitation not be allowed to stand or collect at the base of the structure, which could lead to structural instability, rot, mold, insect infestation, and the like. Accordingly, gutters are nearly universally installed around the sloped roof lines of residential dwellings, commercial and governmental structures. Precipitation from the sloped roof is captured in the gutter's trough and directed to a downspout that directs the precipitation away from the base of a structure.
Roofs also capture a variety of debris such as leaves, twigs, pine needles, seeds and the like. This debris is then washed or blown into the roof's gutters. The debris clogs gutters, which leads to precipitation overflowing the gutter and the aforementioned problems. Water trapped in a gutter also leads to plant growth, deterioration of the gutter, and insect infestation. The gutters must be periodically cleaned to prevent the debris from causing a clog.
In response, there have been significant attempts to develop a device that permits water to enter a gutter while prohibiting debris. Many of these devices, including screens, have been ineffective at best. A more successful variation is found in the class of products wherein an elongated, unperforated gutter cover bridges the gutter's trough from a roof. The width of the cover is typically sufficient to extend from the roof to the outer edge of a gutter. The edge of the cover adjacent the gutter's outer edge is curved, bent or has a radius. As water runs off the roof, it encounters the cover that bridges the roof line to the far side of the gutter. Due to natural surface tension, the water tracks around the radiused or bent gutter edge and is directed into the gutter. Debris is naturally separated from the water along the curled edge so that the debris does not collect in the gutter.
The elongated, essentially flat gutter cover can be difficult to install as it does not include much bending flexibility in the transverse (edge to edge) direction. One installation technique is to place the gutter cover's roof edge under a row of shingles. This can be extremely difficult if the cover itself is not sufficiently flexible.
Steeply pitched roofs can also render existing covers ineffective. The steep pitch means liquid precipitation will exit the roof at a relatively high velocity. The high velocity can create enough force that the surface tension is insufficient to retain the water along the outer edge. As such, the water does not enter the gutter. Attempts have been made to reduce the flow rate of the water in these installations.
Gutter covers may be fastened directly to the roof during installation to secure the cover and/or to create sufficient structural rigidity. The fasteners typically create holes in the roof that can permit moisture, and thus decay, to pass through the roof. Roofs are specifically designed to prohibit moisture from passing through the roof so this is a very unsatisfactory approach to gutter cover installation.
To avoid puncturing the roof, some gutter covers include a clip that fastens the gutter cover to the gutter. The roof edge of the gutter cover is held in place by shingles. Installing clips can be more time consuming than simply nailing or fastening the cover to the roof, but the clips must be installed so that the cover is resiliently installed. Also, each cover is designed to be specifically positioned with respect to the gutter. The positioning is set when a clip is fastened to the gutter, but existing clips can create critical variations in positioning that may reduce the effectiveness and/or aesthetics of an installed gutter cover system.
Given the above and additional considerations, there remains a need for a gutter cover with a clip that provides an accurate, fast, and resilient installation of a gutter cover system. Ideally, the gutter cover system would be easy to install, would set the appropriate location of the gutter cover relative to a gutter during installation, and would adequately hold the gutter cover in place. A gutter cover with a clip in accordance with the present invention overcomes the above and other shortcomings found in existing gutter cover systems.